Pages

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Tatiana and Alexander: Post Game Wrap-up

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read unless you have finished Tatiana and Alexander.

I don't even know where to start. But I did get a good night's sleep - one where I only woke up once dreaming about the book...and was actually able to fall right back to sleep! Oh glory day!

Orbeli. That's the number 1 word that's sticking in my head today. HOW romantic. He sent his beloved paintings away for safe keeping. Poor Tatiana. I bet it ate her up inside that she didn't remember sooner. But even when she did realize Shura was alive and went through hell and high water to get to him, what did he do? YELLED AT HER! LOL!! I was like "OK. Shura. We GET it. You want to be at the top of the hill. The top is better than the bottom. Ease UP, Soldier!" Hmmm. The irony is just hitting me now...but I digress.

That's actually what I loved about this book. It was SO based in reality. I could SEE that cell Shura was in. I could SMELL that cell Shura was in. That's how real it was. When I first started reading The Bronze Horseman, I thought "Do I really want to jump into another depressing WWII book? Do I really care about the Soviet Union?" not knowing nearly as much about it as I do now. WOW. Now I'm googling and jealous of the trips to Europe my sister ("the third sister" to my MOP buds) takes with school every year. She visited camps and had to walk out and cry by herself. (Familiar, party of me?) I can't even imagine.

OK onward (Choke me in the shallow water before I get too deep.) WHAT is going to happen next?? I am hoping we get a little bit of the aftermath from T&A before jumping into their new life in the US. Can you imagine THAT rompfest right after they told him he could go back to the US? OH my god. "Tatia - get your ASS up to that room and don't even THINK about putting your clothes on until we hear the 1st mate lifting the oar on our ship." And then you can totally see Tania bouncing around the room saying "Look Shura, look! They have television! We watch. OK I watch. You tickle."

Am I the only one who is slightly reminded of Fabienne from Pulp Fiction when Tatiana is acting all cute? I just love her. She's so pure. She's like a child...even though she's a mom with tons of responsibility.

Now - here is a question I have. I was a little fuzzy on the $$ situation. Originally, Shura had $10,000 in American dollars. But there were a lot of backpack changes and he lost his rucksack. So my question is: Did Tatiana have all of it when she went to the US? I know she spent almost $5,000 on the land in Arizona (which I can't WAIT for Shura to hear about. "You did WHAT? All because you wanted to wear a long sleeved shirt in the winter?! Oh Tatiatia I love you. Now get over here and make me some blueberry pancakes in your underwear.) And I'm wondering - does she still have another $5,000?

NEXT: Shura meeting Anthony? Oh my god I'm in tears at the thought!!! THAT is going to be the sweetest scene EVER. That child is so adorable in his little backpack...the way he walks into school all independent. Oh I can't WAIT for THAT introduction.

Wait...Shannon's on the phone...she's at 88% in Tatiana and Alexander and needs some ledge-talking.

OK - more to come - have to head to the genius bar at Apple. Wish me luck!!

9 comments:

So true about Tatiana being pretty Fabienne-ish - she doesn't complicate things too much and keeps her eyes on the prize even though it sets her apart from everyone else (Vikki, Jeb, etc). And, I think she used some of the 5K for cashmere blankets, etc... but i imagine she has the rest socked away (since dimitri didn't end up needing his share, right). This book left me with a yearning to travel back in time and buy a huge 90+ acre portion of suburban DC/Maryland to live in peace!

It has been released in other countries years ago. My copy was published in 2005. I don't think it has ever been published in the US before now. I had to order mine from the UK. That's why many of us have already read it.

Yes, the 3rd book has been out for a long time. I read the series several years ago and had to pay a pretty penny for the third book because it wasn't easy to track down. I think I payed about $30 for it on Ebay. The release this month is just the mass market US release I think but don't quote me on that.

It was funny because I read the first not knowing what I was getting into and then the other two weren't easy to find either. I think I paid $20 for T&A on Amazon and then $30 for Summer Garden on Ebay. Good news though - I only paid a few bucks for Tatiana's Table used on Amazon.

Carol, I love reading your observations! There's so much I'd like to add here, but I don't want to give anything away from the next book.

Have to say I was a bit worried with Alexander's sanity during the rescue part. He's been through so much, I can only imagine the truamatic stress he's endured. There were parts when I was really worried...he was hearing things and really freaking me out. I love Paullina's writing, because she shows him as a scarred individual. She shows his imperfections and brutality. After I read this, the only thing I worried about was how he was going to cope with the realities of a normal life after living through such horrific atrocities.

I'd like to add something to what Erin said about the traumatic stress Alexander endured before Tatiana rescues him. He was hung *upside down* for 24 hours - by his ankles - how do you come out of that SANE?? And that's just one thing in a long list of horrible things he had to endure...I wonder if he's even the same man he once was; and how this could affect their relationship. I haven't started the next book yet, but I'm really curious to see how and if Alexander has changed.